Never change, Dave.

You can tell when a crisis is brewing at Ibrox, the emergence of a spontaneous statement is a sure giveaway. Far from apologising for using club funds in an ultimately pointless legal defence of Sports Direct’s enforcement of a contract signed last year, chairman, Dave King, reacted to the reality that Newco will complete at least four years of his tenure trophy-less by threatening Sports Direct with further legal action.

This time the action is over a lack of accounting information on the performance of that merchandising contract from a year ago. It is almost certain that Sports Direct are obliged to provide a sales reports and some form of audit, this would be the basis of any sales-linked bonus payments.

Dave’s court action is likely to be the most expensively purchased accounting report in history. All this gunboat diplomacy may seem wasteful but some clubs cannot exist without a bogeyman.

Celtic are now in the League Cup Final. Those inside the club will realise there is a lot of work to do to complete the first leg of the treble treble, but the majority who traipsed out of Hampden on Sunday will consider the matter a forgone conclusion. They saw a green and white future; the very real prospect of another treble while the chairman with the reverse Midas Touch controls Ibrox.

Fergus McCann built a new stadium and had league trophy in a cabinet in the boardroom when he left Celtic five years after taking control. This character will be at Ibrox four years come March and the greatest achievement in his tenure was a semi-final penalty kick competition win.